anrcaccount

Big factor. Reality is, who wants to come on holiday and feel like they're stepping back into 2020. Pandemic fear- does not a good holiday make. Hard to properly relax when most are masked up. If Thailand wants to promote getting tourists back, they need to drop the masks. Not to mention, it'd do wonders for the psychological well being of the citizens, to move past it.

Which is exactly why no children should be masked. There is no law requiring them to be. It's not required by their schools anymore. Yet, they are not doing it voluntarily, They are doing it because of their parents disproportionate fear of a virus, and some for social norm reasons. It isn't some natural thing for them.

Correct, unfortunately. The pandemic angst needs to fade a lot faster.

Fantastic post. Puts into words what most people understand and know is true, but seem unable to say clearly. This place used to be known as the land of smiles, can you believe it now!! This mass masking, especially in children, is causing enormous harm to Thai society and needs to cease. At the very least, no children should be masked.

I'm all for diversity and live and let live. But for newsreaders to be masking up, is simply absurd, no other way to describe it. Only place in the world this is happening.

I know you're being sarcastic, but a good step forward to see an entire room unmasked, welcome to the real world again Thailand. To have any chance of a tourism recovery- the land of smiles needs to come back.

Absolute absurdity. No other way to describe it.

"Section 5 Income tax under Part 2 of Chapter 3 in Title 2 of the Revenue Code shall be exempted for a foreigner categorised as Wealthy Global Citizen, Wealthy Pensioner, or Work- from-Thailand Professional who is granted a Long-Term Resident Visa under immigration law for assessable income under section 40 of the Revenue Code derived in the previous tax year from an employment, or from business carried on abroad, or from a property situated abroad, and brought into Thailand."

Don't believe this is correct in the LTR case. Have a look at the site. https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/laws-regulations.html The principle is that anyone who qualifies for a WFTP visa type would typically not pay tax in Thailand.

300 people a day recorded as having Covid while being admitted to hospital- many of whom are admitted for something else but test positive on admission - in a country of 70 million people. Hard to justify that 70 million people permanently wearing a face covering is a proportionate response to this. Prudent right now- maybe if you're over 80 with pre existing conditions, but not for the general population.

Yes, exactly, which is why Thais are only doing it for social norm reasons rathe than anything to do with health. There's no difference in the virus between Thailand and anywhere else in the world. I do believe the mass masking will fade away in Thailand, it's already happening, albeit slowly.

No, it will change sooner than years, just needs to hit a critical mass tipping point and all of a sudden the masks will be off again. Once more Thais start travelling internationally again too, they will see that this permanent masking isn't happening just about anywhere else in the world.

That is not a rule, law or mandate. It was simply one statement from a health official that got widely reported. There is no mask mandate anywhere in Thailand, including on public transport or cinemas.

As you request, here it is, showing the week on week infection rate plunging, that data implies the 'peak' has already passed. Have also shown the cases graph . Combine that with the lower severity of XBB, and we have nothing to be concerned about.

The Singapore government went to the effort of issuing a retraction statement to address the undue concern being caused. They are clearly not concerned, but your posts imply we should all be. You've selectively left out the graph that doesn't support your concern - the week on week infection ratio is plunging. https://www.moh.gov.sg/ This means the growth rate is slowing significantly.

https://www.gov.sg/article/factually141022-a "In fact, our local data in the last two weeks shows that XBB cases are estimated to have a 30% lower risk of hospitalisation compared to Omicron BA.5 variant cases. "

XBB strain is not something to be feared, the Singapore government recently issued this in response to an inaccurate article published in Thai media- https://www.gov.sg/article/factually141022-a

https://www.gov.sg/article/factually141022-a Facts of the case There has been no evidence of XBB subvariant causing more severe illness than previous variants. In fact, our local data in the last two weeks shows that XBB cases are estimated to have a 30% lower risk of hospitalisation compared to Omicron BA.5 variant cases. No increases in COVID-19 deaths have been observed over the past month. Please visit www.moh.gov.sg for latest information on COVID-19. Secondly, an observation: It seems Thailand is in a completely different dimension in regards to a continuing focus on covid vs the rest of the world. Outside of China, covid barely makes the news anymore. The concept of mass mask wearing is becoming vanishingly rare throughout the world. It becomes clear the risk lies with the older population who can be vaccinated and treated with anti virals. Thailand needs to change, its continuing obsession with covid is not helping the society.

Nice. Do you or anyone else know how this is related to the 5 year checking of validity? E.g. In your example above if for whatever reason you didn't get around to affixing the visa until say January 2025 - when would the '5 year check' occur - January 2030 ( 5 years after Visa affixed) or 5 years after 13th October 2023 -13 October 2028?

True but actually really good to see him without one. Lets hope other government officials follow this , the time of the mass masking is slowly but surely coming to an end. His comments on cannabis are relatively uncontroversial really, clearly meth is the real challenge here.

Good result. Did you get any clarification if there would be any ongoing checking of your employment status during the 5 years? It appears there isn't , BOI have indicated there isn't , the employment status is "at one point in time" validated for the initial application and again at the 5 year point. But what happens in the case BOI decide to validate this, assuming someones employment status changes in that 5 year period? The intent of the visa is for 'Working from Thailand' but it appears at face value, anyone who currently meets the qualifications can get the stamp, immediately stop working, but retain the 5 year (I know it's 10 but they validate at the 5 year point) visa.

Public transport in Singapore.

Because there's no mask mandate on airlines or any public transport in Thailand.

Not really "good" reasons. Did she do that before Covid? Of course not. Not a great justification for a behaviour that's only become acceptable post pandemic. Wasn't long ago wearing a mask would get you questioned on entry to a building as to your motives..... Theft would be suspected. Now it's the other way round!! What a world we live in...

Have they announced the pricing on this?